So, what’s the best way to survive a nearly nine-hour (largely) garage-rock marathon at Grand Central? Well, common sense says you should start slow, save the craziest energy expenditure for later in the evening, get drunk elsewhere to save money, and don’t dance near, look at, or even breathe in the vicinity of some of the venue’s over-eager security guards.

Many well-meaning music fans ignored at least one or all of these suggestions last night during the on-land kickoff party for the inaugural Bruise Cruise, which departs from Miami this morning. The mega-watt line-up featured virtually every performer slated to perform aboard the Carnival Imagination during the three-day rock cruise: Jacuzzi Boys, Turbo Fruits, Ty Segall, Surfer Blood, the Strange Boys, Thee Oh Sees, Vivian Girls, Quintron and Miss Pussycat, and Black Lips. As such, there was pretty much no skip-able opening act, Miami time wasn’t going to fly, and many, many people actually showed up early … which means that by 12:30 a.m. or so, many had also started to tap out.

Those who made it through to the wee hours, though, were treated to epic musician stage-diving fails, a psychedelic puppet show, and, of course, yet another trademark Crazy Black Lips set. It was a lot to process, so we’ll break it down, yearbook-style, into superlatives.

Band Most in Need of a Smile: Surfer Blood. These South Florida natives went on surprisingly early; one would think their quasi-hometown status would give them a more peak-hour billing. It turned out be for the best, though. Though the youngest and most eager fans near the edge of the stag (bless ‘em) still appreciated the set heavy with material from Astro Coast, the band looked glum throughout it all.